Never Alone
by xBlitzAceTidusx
Summary: Shikamaru dies in battle, how does Ino deal with this loss?[ShikaIno]


"Shikamaru, this is a suicide mission... don't go..please..." Ino said. Tears were falling down her face. "Or, if you go, let me go with you, that way I know you won't get hurt.." she tried to convince him not to go, but his mind wasn't going to be changed anytime soon.

He was going.

"Stop being so troublesome, Ino" Shikamaru said with a slight smirk. "You stay here, I'll come back to you. I promise"

"I'll come with you Shikamaru! Please.." Ino pleaded.

"No, you stay here. You'll be safe here, if you came along I would always be worrying about you. At least when you're here I know your safe..." Shikamaru said. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"I'll come back to you. I promise."

Ino nodded and wiped away the tears from her eyes as Shikamaru turned away from her and walked out of the village with fellow ninja of Konoha following him.

"Goodbye, Shikamaru.." Ino whispered.

She didn't know that would be the last time she would ever see him.

- - - - - - - - - - -

A few weeks had passed since Shikamaru left and there was still no sign of him returning. She still had faith in him. He promised her, shikamaru wouldn't break his promise. She always went to the village entrance hoping to see Shikamaru coming with all his comrades behind him.

And everyday she was filled with sadness and disappointment when he never came.

_**I waited for you, today. **_

_**But you didn't show**_

_**no, no, no.**_

"Maybe...waiting isn't good enough.." she said as a tear fell to the ground

She sighed and walked back to the flower shop with a long, sad face. She wanted to believe that he was still alive and fighting. But as the days when on her gut instinct told her he wasn't coming back to her. She always pushed this feeling away, and always hoped for the best.

_**I needed you, today**_

_**So where did you go?**_

_**You told me to call, you said you'd be there**_

One more day had gone by, and she was sitting in a tree by the village entrance. Waiting, like always. Today was different though. One of the ninja that went with Shikamaru had returned, a smile came across her face. Where he came, his leader was sure to come following behind. Right?

...Right?

_**And though I haven't seen you**_

_**are you still there?**_

He was wounded himself. Maybe Shikamaru was hurt too and was just walking slower. She hoped for the better. As the ninja went into the village, toward the fifth hokage, Tsunade, Ino followed. She wanted to know where Shikamaru was and what his condition was. She stayed hidden, but close enough to here what was going on.

"Lady Tsunade.." he said softly.

Tsunade got up from her chair, ignoring the paperwork she was doing and walked to the aid of the man.

"Are you alright? How was the outcome of the mission? Are all the others okay?" she asked. She was obviously worried about the condition of the others.

"It..didn't go so well Lady Tsunade. I'm sorry." he said sadly.

"What do you mean?" she asked, expecting the worse. As was Ino.

"I'm afraid, I'm the only one coming back from this mission. The others..died. Even Shikamaru" he said, a tear fell from his eye as he remembered how the brave Shikamaru risked his life to make sure he got away. He felt responsible for his death, and the death of his other comrades.

"It's okay." Tsunade said, trying to comfort him. "Let's get you some medical attention."

Ino just stood there when she here what he said. She couldn't move. Tears flowed from her eyes. Shikamaru was never coming back to her. He lied...he broke his promise.

The door opened and Tsunade along with the injured ninja. Tsunade caught sight of Ino standing there, crying.

"Ino.." she said.

"Your lying! Shikamaru can't be dead... he was smarter than that!" she yelled. She wiped away a few of her tears, but they kept coming. "He has to come back.. He promised!" Ino shook her head and ran away from Tsunade.

Tsunade closed her eyes and turned her head, she held back the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes...

Ino ran by everyone in her way, not really caring. She just wanted to get out of here. Her vision was slightly blurry from the tears falling from her eyes.

"_Shikamaru!"_ she thought. _"Why didn't you stay here, why didn't you let me go with you!"_

Ino ran right to the outskirts of the village, out to the tree she sat in when she waited out for his return.

"Shikamaru!" she yelled. "Why..."

_**I cry out with no reply**_

_**And I can't feel you by my side.**_

_**So I'll hold tight to what I know**_

_**You're here and I'm never alone.**_

She started to remember all the times she had with Shikamaru. All the times she could of told him how she really felt about him...

"_Your so clueless, Shikamaru. Jealously is a ugly thing. I'd never want to be on your team" Ino said when Shikamaru wondered why all the girls swooned over Sasuke. Shikamaru just glared at her._

"_Team 10; Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji" Iruka sensei announced._

_Ino's jaw dropped when her name was announced with Shikamaru. He smirked._

"_Heh, looks like you have to team up with me" _

_Ino just glared. _

_- - - - - _

"_Go Shikamaru! Kick her ass! You can do it!" Ino yelled when Shikamaru was going to fight in the Chuunin exams._

"_Yeah, yeah" Shikamaru said in a bored tone of voice, but secretly loved the fact Ino was there cheering him on..._

_- - - - _

_Shikamaru smiled. There was no danger around them, but Ino was still unconscious from her mind-transfer technique. He just..held her. She was less troublesome when her mouth was closed._

"_Shikamaru, there's no danger or anything around. Why are you holding her like that?" Chouji asked._

_Shikamaru made no response. He quietly held Ino. _

_- - - - - _

_**And though I cannot see you**_

_**And I can't explain why**_

_**Such a deep, deep reassurance**_

_**you've placed in my life.**_

A few days had past, and news of Shikamaru and the others with him had gotten out. His funeral was coming up tomorrow, and his name was placed on the list of Ninja who had died serving the village. Ino had spent most of her time there, alone.

"Shikamaru was a great Shinobi, too bad it took his death for everyone to notice that..." Ino said softly to herself.

"_Jeez Ino. Your so troublesome"_

"Shikamaru!?" Ino gasped and looked around. Was she going insane?

_**We cannot separate**_

'_**cause you're part of me**_

_**And though you're invisible**_

_**I'll trust the unseen**_

Ino just shook her head and ran back to her house. It was like the day the Third Hokage died all over again. Everyone all dressed in black, sadness filling over the village. Why did it seem like all that was happening was sadness and death...

"_This is why woman are so troublesome..."_

And on top of it all, Shikamaru's voice was in her head. She felt like she was going to go crazy. She just kept repeating that Shikamaru..was gone. She needed to accept that fact..but would she? Every time she thought about him, she would cry. Maybe if she begged him not to go, he would of stayed..and lived the kind of life he wanted to live.

"_I just want to be a average ninja and make a average living. Marry a regular girl who's not super pretty or super ugly, have two kids, a girl and then a boy..retire when my daughter got married and when my successfully became a ninja and then spend the rest of my life playing Shogi or Go, a carefree and leisurely retirement, dying of old age before my wife. That's the kind of life I wanted and yet, I ended up exerting myself...so unlike me..._"

"If you stayed here instead of going on that mission..you could of lived that kind of life.." she said to herself.

Chouji walked around the village too. He was pretty depressed about losing his best friend... the only one who was there from the start. He was looking out for Ino. He wanted to make sure she was okay, but she usually stayed somewhere by herself. Not even the mention of Sakura getting Sasuke would bother her.

The one she truly loved was gone...

_**I cry out with no reply**_

_**And I can't feel you by my side**_

_**So I'll hold tight to what I know**_

_**You're here and I'm never alone**_

Ino kept herself in her room, still thinking of Shikamaru and all the times she had with him. She beat herself up day in day out for completely shoving him aside and always putting Sasuke first.

"It was always Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke..." she said with a sigh. She shook her head and went to bed, awaiting tomorrow, the day of his funeral..

--

"_In all honestly, I think Ino would look more attractive with more meat on her bones.." _

--

Ino was all dressed in black, she held a flower in her hand as she walked out the door of her room. It was time to go to his funeral. She never said a word to her parents, she just walked out.

To make this day more depressing, the rain came down, it was coming down pretty hard but Ino didn't seem to care about it. She just kept walking.

- - -

when she finally got to where they were holding his funeral, everyone was dressed in black.

Yep, just like when the Hokage died...

_**We cannot separate **_

_**You're part of me**_

_**And though your invisible**_

_**I trust the unseen. **_

Everyone put their flowers by a picture of Shikamaru. First team 7, then Chouji, then Ino.. She placed her flower and looked closely at the picture of him. He was smiling... looking so happy. She couldn't stay there.. She had to get out of there, she ran where she spent most of her time.

The Memorial monument; where the hero's lie.

She couldn't take it anymore. Even if it hadn't been that long since she found out he died, she couldn't bare going on without him.

She needed him...she wanted to be with him.

Tears fell from her eyes, as the rain fell upon her. She took out her kunai and stared at it for a moment.

_**I cry out with no reply**_

_**And I can't feel you by my side.**_

"You know... they say...when a lovebird dies, it just gives up it's will to live so it can be with it's mate again..." Ino sniffed and wiped a few tears.

"I hope I'll be with you soon, Shikamaru.."

_**So I'll hold to what I know,**_

_**You're here and I'm never alone...**_

**- - - - - - - - - - - - **

**AN:** Guh, I was bored. And listening to the song Never again by Barlow Girl. Such a sad song sigh

If you don't like it that you can go jump off a cliff, I don't care. XD. Like I said it was done out of boredom.

And if you didn't get the ending, Ino committed suicide so she could be with Shikamaru.

ShikaIno is like, one of the best parings. XD.

Anyways Like I said, you don't like it, don't sit here and spend the next 20 minutes of your life and rant and bitch and whine on why you don't like it when JUST as easily you can spend two seconds clicking the 'back' button and forgetting about it. XD.

But, if you DID happen to like it, review, lmao.


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